> 2.9.2002

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 Hednesford returned to winning ways with a superb victory over league leaders Grantham at Keys Park this evening. After the 2-0 defeat at Hastings on Saturday, manager Ian Painter made two changes to his starting line up, with Stuart Ryder and Stewart Airdrie dropped to the bench, with Paul Ware and Derek Rae restored to the starting XI

They started brightly, and Rae could have opened the scoring for the home side on thirteen minutes, firing wide of goal after good build-up work from Richard Lucas and big Kevin Francis

 It mattered not, as they took the lead four minutes later. A free kick from the left from Ware was flicked on at the near post by the excellent Darren Simkin before Wray shot past Grantham keeper Mario Zaccardi via a deflection off Steve Wenlock

 It was Wray's first goal for the Pitmen, and he seemed to thrive on the goal, turning in a superb performance. He almost doubled his, and the Pitmen's, advantage five minutes later, but his run and shot was turned away by the in-form Zaccardi

 Wray then turned provider for Ware four minutes before half time, playing the midfielder in on the left side of the box, but Ware's driven cross failed to find a Hednesford body in the middle

 For all their possession, it was almost even-steven at the break when Les Robinson played a short back-pass to Gayle, allowing Ricky Renshaw to pounce on the ball. Robinson, however, recovered brilliantly to force the ball away from goal

 Grantham smartened their act up after the interval, and looked a far better side on the break, proving they were not the early league leaders for no reason

 Jim Neill almost equalised on five minutes into the restart, hitting a swerving free kick that beat Gayle, but also beat the far post. Neill then crossed for Brendan McDaid to head against Gayle's left hand post as the pressure built

 Hednesford could have caught Grantham on the break a number of times during the late stages of the half, with Francis heading wide of goal, before his flick-on found Mark Jones, who just failed to connect

A frenetic last five minutes saw Zaccardi deny Francis and sub Steve Piearce, whilst Wenlock's header hit the post with a minute to go to deny the Gingerbreads a point   cds

Weymouth (A) 

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Piearce

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Ware

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